I went to the Catalyst Labs extra sessions on Wednesday and saw the following speakers:
- Dave Ferguson – Lead Pastor and Spiritual Entrepreneur with Community Christian Church and the NewThing Network of Chicago, IL
- Perry Noble – Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC (and my leader/primary vision-caster!)
- Reggie McNeal – Missional Leadership Specialist for Leadership Network of Dallas, TX
- Mark Batterson – Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC
My Thoughts
Dave Ferguson
Dave talked about five key church planting lessons. I would say these lessons fit for anything new that you might be starting.
- Vision – Got to have it.
- Strategy – It should fit on a napkin. SIMPLE = REPRODUCIBLE
- Finance – Money always follows vision.
- Innovation – Lead with a "Yes". Ask "How" later.
- Reproducing – Take risks on emerging leaders.
Perry Noble
Perry honed in on leadership – primarily directed toward THE leader
- If we don't have vision for what we are doing, we are as useless as Zaxby's (regional fast food chicken restaurant) without chicken.
- As leaders of churches, are you spending time in the Word and listening for what God wants you to do?
- Are you taking risks? Your church may be one step away from a breakthrough. What is the risk?
Reggie McNeal
I had no clue who Reggie was, and frankly, I went to this session because the hall was too crowded to get anywhere else. I am so glad I went to this session!
- We are DESPERATE for GREAT leaders!
- We need to be lifelong learners. We also need to be lifelong UNlearners. (awesome!)
- I beg you to be a great leader.
Mark Batterson
Pumped to see Mark. We traded e-mails way back when I was struggling with the decision to seek a publisher vs. self-publish I Was Broke. Now I'm Not. His advice was so helpful at the time.
- Talked about his latest project, Wild Goose Chase. (My review of that book is HERE.)
- 97% of books sell less than 5,000 copies. (Wow. I Was Broke. Now I'm Not. is headed into the 3% category. Yet another humbling reminder that this whole thing is way bigger than me!)
- Sometimes my lack of encouragement is astounding – to me!
- Attendance was so low that I used to close my eyes during worship because it was too depressing to open them.
Had a great time at the Catalyst Labs. Highly recommend them.
